Changes
by historylover
Summary: Tag to 5.2


A/N: I have mixed feelings about this episode. It was good on paper, awesome to see Rufus, Ellen, and, yes, even Jo back (I never had as big of problems with Jo as many others did), and War and his red Mustang worked a lot better than I feared. But, something about it dragged until the last scene.

Even so, bored at work. So, I'm going to try to write a tag. Wish me luck.

Disclaimer: Disclaimed. In fact, everything is disclaimed. MST3K and all that. You know what I mean.

**Changes**

_Everything has changed. Nothing will ever be the same again._

Dean lay on the bed in the cheap, ugly motel room, twirling War's ring around in his hands. He didn't feel like going out. Just order in a pizza, watch some pay-per-view, hit the sack, and go…

He'll work out the "where" in the morning. Right now, he was exhausted and needed time to process.

He missed his amulet. It was a part of him, like an arm. OK, maybe not that severe now. Maybe like a toe or something. A thing, a part, you never think about until you don't have it anymore. He hoped Cas would take care of it. He would kick some angel butt if Cas' mission damaged it in any way.

He put War's ring on the nightstand between the beds. Getting a room with two beds was so second-nature that he automatically did it. He picked up the remote to the ancient TV, wondering not for the first time, why motels didn't seem to trust their clientele not to steal the remote to a TV that looked like it had been manufactured in the 1970s.

He turned the TV on, flipped through the channels, to land on _Dogma_. "Figures," he said out loud to an empty room. He wondered if he should suggest that God might possibly be skee-balling in New Jersey. Or maybe in a coma after being assaulted by three Stygian triplets. However, knowing Cas, the angel would probably take him seriously, even though Kevin Smith probably isn't a prophet. And God probably isn't Alanis Morrisette.

_How would that amulet work? Would Cas dangle the amulet over a person until it glows? _Dean suddenly pictured Cas, fluttering in and out of hospital rooms, dangling his amulet over comatose people, looking at it intently trying to see if it would start looking hot. He decided that too little sleep is not a good thing for his imagination, but that wouldn't shut off his brain. _Would Cas wear the amulet, and it'll burn him? And why do I have a God-finder anyways? I never believed in God. I still don't if I do. _

Dean turned off the TV and started playing with the ring again. _Now what? _he wondered. _Are the other three Horsemen going to have rings like this? Do I have to chop all their rings off to defeat them? And then what? Did we defeat War? Is this just a MacGuffin? Yes, I do know what a MacGuffin is, although no one is here to make a face at me. After all, wars still exist. Nothing really changed._

Except, everything changed. For starters, he was talking to himself. Not only was his brain not shutting off, but he was now talking to himself, if only in his mind.

As he grabbed his phone to order in a pizza, it rang. He flipped it over, shocked. "Sam?"

"_Hey. Just wanted to let you know that I'm all right. And I'll be in touch regularly."_

"All right…"

An awkward silence fell. Dean knew that Sam was expecting him to ask where he was, play the big brother, tell him everything would be all right—just come on home. Part of him wanted to offer that reassurance. Hell, _most_ of him wanted to offer that reassurance. But he didn't believe it himself.

Plus, he also needed to do things himself. He knew that he was relatively handy at figuring things out. Hell, he had been trained to. But, he relied on Sam a little too much for the research. And just by _being _there. Although he had his own hunts before Dad died, he never really had to rely on himself. Until Dad disappeared, Dean could use him in a pinch. And then he teamed up with Sammy again…

Since he came back from Hell, so many things changed. He changed. Sammy…

"_Dean?" _Sam's voice came from the phone. Dean realized that it had been a couple minutes since either one spoke.

"Yeah, I'm here." He played with the ring again. "You know, I don't think we defeated War."

"_We cut off his ring."_

"Yeah, but that's a little too obvious, isn't it? He was spinning it so much. I think he wanted us to think this is what he was using to manipulate everyone. I think there's another way he was controlling everybody. Besides the poisoning the water and everything."

"_Poisoning the water would explain it, right? That's what caused the hallucinations."_

"Yeah, but not where the ring comes in. Or what to do with it. Do we collect the Horsemen rings and destroy them… somehow? I know I'm not letting it go until I know what it is."

"_Good idea. But, are you thinking about going after War again?" _

"Wouldn't know where to begin, so, no."

"_That's smart."_

"Well, thanks, Sammy." Dean tried to push the sarcastic tone away, knowing that he didn't quite succeed. "I am smarter than I look." He mentally groaned. He needed sleep.

There was a long moment of silence on Sam's end. Then, Sam said softly, _"I'm sorry, Dean."_

"I know."

"_I mean about everything. I let you down. I know that. I just…"_

"Yeah. To be honest, I need to figure things out as well. Come to terms with things I've done as well, because I definitely know the feeling of letting people down."

Sam fell silent again. _"I should have figured out that those kids weren't demons when I killed them. There was no flash of light. You probably would have realized something was up, right?"_

Dean cleared his throat and flipped on the TV again. "Stop worrying about this hunt and move on. Everyone was fooled into thinking demons. I would have made the same call if I saw that they had black eyes and were attacking me."

"_I understand why you looked at me like I was going to take the demon blood. I am a monster. You were right."_

"Look, I'm sorry I said that to you. You're not a monster. A monster doesn't sit brooding about what he's doing wrong. Anyway, enough with the chick flicking. Do you think I should have told Cas about the possibility of God playing skee-ball in Jersey?"

"_You've got 'Dogma' on your mind?"_

"Yeah, it's on TV. I bet Bartleby's behind all of this, not Lucifer. I knew there was a reason that I don't like Ben Affleck. Other than the fact that that annoying insurance duck keeps quacking his name."

"_Cas would probably take you seriously."_

"Kevin Smith could be a prophet. But, yeah, that's what I thought as well."

Sam cleared his throat. _"I'll let you go. I'll be in touch. I promise."_

_I know about your promises, _Dean thought. Out loud, he said, "All right. Talk to you later."

"_Thanks for everything," _Sam said so softly that Dean wasn't sure he heard him. A soft click sounded just after that.

Dean closed his phone and watched a few more minutes of the movie before channel surfing again. A little noise might help make sense of these changes.

End.

A/N: Boy, this was a bad one! I'm posting it anyways. If I get no reviews, I understand.


End file.
